Fence-post.



No. 659,424. I Patented Oct. 9, I900.

H. J. VAN VA LKENBURGH. FENCE POSiT.

(Applicatiop filed June 13, 1900.)

(No Model.)

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Nrrnn STATES, PATENT HENRY J. VAN VALKENBURGI-I, OE- MA'lTAlVAN, MICHIGAN.

FENCE-POST.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 659,424, dated October 9, 1900.

Application filed June 13, 1900. Serial No. 20,192. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY J. VAN VALKEN- BURGH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Mattawan, in the county of Van Buren, State of Michigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fence-Posts; and I do hereby declare the following to bea full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to makeand use the same.

This invention relates to fences in general, and more particularly to fence-posts; and it has specific reference to that class of fenceposts that are made of iron or steel, and particularly adapted for supporting wire fences and grape-trellis, one object of the invention being to provide a construction of post which will be simple and cheap in construction, which will be strong and durable, and to which the wires may be tightly held without necessitating clamping so hard as to prevent movement thereof with respect to the posts.

A further object of the invention is to provide a single meansfor holding the sections of the post securely together and to prevent uprooting of the post.

In the drawings forming a portion of this specification, and in which like numerals of reference indicate similar parts in the several views, Figure l is a perspective view of one form of post known asa line-post and showing wires attached thereto. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section taken through the post and showing the wire-clamps in elevation.

Referring now to the drawings, the post consists of two cross-sectionally-rectangular plates 5 and 6, of steel or other suitable material, which are laid one against the other, and the lower ends of \he plates are bent outwardly at right angles to form shoulders 7 and 8 and are then bent downwardly and parallel to form prongs 9 and 10. The extremities' of the prongs are sharpened, so that in practice the post may be placedin a hole and the prongs may be then driven down into the virgin soil, which is of course much harder than can bepacked, and will thus be held most firmly. These sharpened prongs also permit driving of the prongs directly into the surface without first excavating when so desired. The plates 5 and 6 are held in mutual con tact by two distinct agencies, one of which consists of a metallic plate 11, having a cen- 15, having an extended bill 16 and a longer stem 17, the stem being threaded to receive a clamping-nut 18. I

In the plates 5 and 6 are formed perforations 19 and 20, which are grouped, and the perforations 19 of plate 5 aline in pairs with the perforations 20 of the plate 6, said perforations being so positioned that when the stem 17 of a hook is engaged with one pair of alining perforations the bill of that hook will engage with another pair of alining perforations, and the stern and bill are of such length that a fence-wire maybe disposed between the bight of the hook and the adjacent face of a plate 5 or 6, and the nut 25 may be engaged with the protruding end of the stem and screwed up to draw the end of the bill through the plates 5 and 6. After the bill is drawn through the plates 5 and 6 the nut, which is angular, snaps past the end of the bill or may be snapped past when pressed, and the return of the bill will prevent accidental displacement of the nut. By this means the bill acts as a nut-lock for the securing-nut,

and the hook may thus be drawn up to an extent sufficient to cause the lock to act without necessarily clamping the wire tight against the face of the post, so that the wires may be tightened-at any timeby the usual ratchets or stretchers. If desired, however, the hooks or clips may be drawn up to clamp the wires tightly.

What is claimed is 1. A fence-post comprising two plates having alining perforations and wire-clips, each clip consisting of a hook having a threaded stem engaged with a perforation and a bill engaged with an adjacent perforation, and a clamping-nut engaged with the stem and adapted to draw the bill through the post and engage it to press it rearwardly and snap behind it, whereby the bight of the hook will be moved in the direction of the post to hold a wire thereagainst and the nut will be held from dislodgment from the stem.

2. A fence-post comprising two plates disposed one against the other and having their lower ends bent outwardly and then downwardly to form shoulders, a perforated plate disposed upon the first-named plates and lying upon the shoulders to hold the plates together and form an anchor for the post, said post having perforations therethrough, and a series of hooks each having a threaded stem passed through a perforation of the post and HENRY J. VAN VAhKENBURGll.

Witnesses:

W. C. MosmR, L. C. FITCH. 

